I hadn't planned to write about the 2023 postseason until the World Series. But with all the hell which has broken out with Hamas invasion of Israel and all of the cruel commentary which has followed, I'm going to talk a little baseball even though I haven't been watching it.
For the second year in a row, the Philadelphia Phillies have bested the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS as they defeated the Braves 3-1 tonight in Game 4. The Phillies now have a chance to win back-to-back NL pennants as they will host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS starting on Monday night. The D'Backs swept the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card and then in a monumental upset also swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. Not bad for a team which lost 110 games two years ago.
Meanwhile, the ALCS will be a battle of Texas as the defending World Series champion Houston Astros host the Texas Rangers starting on Sunday. The Astros have reached their seventh consecutive ALCS having bested the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS after earning a bye in the Wild Card round despite having the same record as the Rangers who had to sweep both the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card and the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS.
Not only is the Astros vs. Rangers a battle of Texas, but it is also a battle of future Hall of Fame managers. Astros manager Dusty Baker is 7th on MLB's all-time managerial list win with 2,183 while Rangers' manager Bruce Bochy is 10th at 2,093.
It is entirely possible we could have an Astros-Phillies rematch of a year ago. As I noted earlier this month, it would mark the first time the same two teams have faced off in the World Series in consecutive seasons since the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers met in both the 1977 and 1978 World Series. Baker was an outfielder with the Dodgers and was on the losing end of both World Series. If the Astros prevailed (be it against the Phillies or the Diamondbacks) it would mark the first time a team has won a World Series in consecutive years since the Yankees won three consecutive World Series from 1998-2000.
Frankly, I would prefer to see anyone but Houston win. I know we're six years removed from the Astros cheating scandal but there are still members of that 2017 team in uniform such as Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers, Jr. Earlier this month, the PBS program Frontline aired the documentary The Astros Edge recounting how the scandal came about. While Dusty Baker is no A.J. Hinch the scandal will always be a part of the team's legacy.
I'd be happy if the Phillies, D'Backs or Rangers went all the way. The Phillies won their last World Series in 2008 and if they were to win this year it would only be their third in franchise history which goes back to 1883. The D'Backs won their lone World Series title in 2001 while the Rangers have never won a World Series title going back to their days as the second incarnation of the Washington Senators beginning in 1961.
One other observation. The Astros, Rangers and Phillies each had 90-win seasons while the D'Backs won 84 games. Should the D'Backs win the World Series the only team in MLB history which won the World Series with fewer wins is the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals with 83. Yet two years earlier, the Cardinals won the NL pennant with 105 wins and would be swept in the World Series by the Boston Red Sox. The three teams which had 100 plus win seasons (Orioles, Dodgers and Braves) have all been eliminated. An argument could be made that the current playoff format is watering down baseball. On the other hand, there was a time when a team could win 100 games and not make the post-season. Just ask Dusty Baker who managed the San Francisco Giants to a 103-win campaign during his first season as a big-league manager in 1993 and did not play October baseball. As the late Joe Garagiola said, "Baseball is a funny game."
I'm still not planning on watching the post-season. However, considering what is going on in Israel I have enjoyed writing this post about baseball. I wish I had the same joy in writing about Israel.
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